


Prelude: A Mournful Reunion

by SakkaWordsmith



Series: Lupin V [1]
Category: Lupin III
Genre: Angst, Gen, Summary is the series’s Premise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:46:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24659335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SakkaWordsmith/pseuds/SakkaWordsmith
Summary: It is a dystopian future where the corporations and politicians have shaken hands with each other to form an oligarchy dominating not only Japan but also the world. The dark era started with an incident (a heist gone awry) where Lupin and Jigen went missing-in-action, presumed (and later declared) dead. Decades silently passed by, until Lupin V, the grandson of Lupin III nobody knows existed, made his grand entrance with the new Lupin gang. His goals? To rob from the rich to feed the poor and to bring down the oligarchy, whose extensive industrialisation has ruined the greens on the planet. While he takes the limelight, an infamous organisation operates in the shadows called the Résistance Internationale (RI), led by an elusive Spymaster, aiming to claim revenge on the oligarchs and fight against their oppressive rule.
Relationships: Arsène Lupin III/Mine Fujiko
Series: Lupin V [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1782925
Comments: 3
Kudos: 2





	Prelude: A Mournful Reunion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AgentDeathblade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentDeathblade/gifts), [NinjaSalad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NinjaSalad/gifts), [Tulip_Blossom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tulip_Blossom/gifts).



> Series and world-building concept belong to Raspberry Milkshake.  
> Painstakingly crafted everything else in by yours truly.

One day after Lupin V began his thieving career and reestablished the Lupin gang, a woman visits the Ishikawa kendojo in the middle of the night. Jūyondaime has gone on capers with Lupin V, and there’s only Goemon inside, polishing the altar of his fallen partners. The woman knocks on the sliding door, startling Goemon, but he expresses relief once he turns over and spots her familiar figure.

“Thank you for taking care of the children, Goemon-ojisan...” She remains at the praying chamber’s door and gazes forlornly towards the altar, knowing she’s not allowed inside.

“It has been a while since you saw the boy last, has it not?”

Goemon promptly returns to his work following a short greeting.

“I read the news, Goemon-ojisan, so I came here...” The woman clutches the newspaper in her hands tightly. The headlines detailed Lupin V’s first grand heist.

“The boy has decided to follow your father’s footsteps, Arsenia. So did the other two, following him like we used to in those merry old days”, Goemon says reminiscently while dusting and polishing Lupin’s memorial tablet.

“Did you tell my father and Jigen-ojisan about the children’s decision to take up their mantle?” The woman, revealed to be Arsenia Lupin, the fourth generation of the name and the mother of the now infamous Lupin V, focuses her eyes towards the names on the memorial tablets illuminated solely by the flickering altar candles.

“No, not yet. I’m waiting for you to come telling him the good news by yourself. Come, Arsenia, it’s been a while since you saw your father last also, has it not?”

Goemon has finished cleaning the altar. He gingerly puts the polished memorial tablets down their usual place and steps aside so the woman may come in to pay respects.

“Can I really? You have never let me put a step into this chamber before, Goemon-ojisan...”

“Because the time has yet to come back in the days, and the secrets of the past have just begun to be unveiled. Come in, Arsenia, tell your father that the infamous Lupin gang of yore has returned at last, and show him your fire of vengeance within your heart.”

As Arsenia approaches the altar in memory of her fallen father and his partner for the first time, Goemon silently leaves the chamber and closes the sliding door, so as to allow the woman a few moments alone.

He comes sitting by the rusty radio next to Rokuemon’s dusty glass case, which is always tuned to the latest news. Following a short moment of nonsensical commentaries, the breaking headlines jolt up and the voice of the reporter echoes throughout the kendojo: “ _The notorious Lupin gang has officially returned from years of disappearance! Fifty billion yen from ABC Corporation is another of their grandiose re-entrance statement!_ ”

A proud smile both subsequently appears on Arsenia and Goemon’s sombre lips.

* * *

Zenigata Toshiko, now a seasoned police inspector, initially believed the Lupin mentioned in the news was the presumably dead Lupin III, and requested her superiors to let her handle this case so she could continue what her father couldn’t finish. She intended to make the old thief pay for both the miserable years her mother spent waiting and the futile years her father spent chasing. However, she quickly realised this Lupin wasn’t the Lupin she thought, but rather, his grandson no-one knew existed.

One time she was able to corner the then-still-amateurish Lupin V, and was close to arrest the whole gang, but they were rescued by the combined efforts of the Spymaster and Lupin IV, whose visages were carefully hidden under the dark crape veils. 

A short while later she was briefly visited by Lupin V himself, who had learnt of her identity from the journal penned by the legend himself (which Goemon has been safeguarding) plus some researching, at her flat. He introduced himself with an apology for the wrongdoings to her family his grandfather accidentally caused, then affirmed his goals to her. He was not stealing for his amusement, he was stealing for the sake of others, and he would still do it even though he knew it was a crime (and also against the lessons in Goemon-occhan’s fables). Before he left, he said that he was glad to have her on his chase instead of some other inspector. He starts calling her Kacchan in subsequent capers, and even though she’s mildly annoyed by it, she just lets him.

The ruling class is startled with the return of the legendarily notorious Lupin gang, whom they were sure to have all perished years ago. The oligarchs grow more and more restless after each Lupin heist well done. The Résistance Internationale has been quite a handful, and they have yet to even caught a good glimpse at the elusive Spymaster.


End file.
